In the spring of 2018 (while I was still in high school), my sister Anna texted me and asked if I wanted to date her new coleader. I said "sure." Spoiler alert: her new coleader was Devon. For the next year, Anna and Devon led YoungLife together at Reynoldsburg High School. She talked about me often, showing him pictures of me, hinting that I was single and that we could be a good match, but the two of us never met in person. Eventually, Devon asked Anna if they could get together over breakfast. On Valentine's Day of 2019, they met at a Panera and he told her that he was interested in seriously asking me out. Anna gave him my number and he tried to call me a little bit later, but I was in class. I then received a text from Anna, advising me to answer my phone if I were to receive a call when class was over. Immediately I knew something was going to happen and I had my suspicions that it might involve her coleader. I couldn't focus during the rest of Children's Lit because my stomach was in knots. I walked home and awaited the phone call, with my friends Bri and Alyssa nearby for emotional support. I was so anxious when the ring finally came! Nevertheless I answered, and as expected, Devon told me he wanted to take me on a date. Two days later we got sushi and Jeni's ice cream. Nervous and awkward as we were, we still wanted to continue getting to know one another afterwards. We went on a second date, then a third and fourth and so on. The more dates we went on, the more fun we began to have together and the more our feelings for each other grew; from interest and curiosity to genuine knowing and liking. On date #10 he asked me to be his girlfriend and the rest is history.

On the last Monday of December, Devon texted me asking if I wanted to get dinner. It was very last minute and casual, so I thought nothing of it. When he picked me up for dinner, he said that he had won a raffle at his job. We had the choice of getting free tickets to the Columbus Zoo, COSI, or the Franklin Park Conservatory. He suggested we choose the Franklin Park Conservatory so we could admire the Christmas lights before they took them down. He also suggested we go right away because the weather would be bad the rest of the week. Looking back, he was full of suggestions that night! Still, I thought nothing of it. We had been talking about seeing Christmas lights for weeks, and it all seemed too unplanned and last minute for a proposal. He didn't even seem nervous. We ended up skipping dinner and making our way to the conservatory, but we were early for our time slot. Devon asked if I wanted to walk around the park while we waited. He insisted there was a light-up train hidden somewhere in the park, and led me along pathways to find it. Little did I know he was actually leading me to the place where he first told me he loved me. When we arrived at the spot I even made a joke about the last time we were here. In that moment, he got down on his knee and pulled the ring from his pocket. It took me a while to realize that he wasn't messing with me. So much so that I forgot to listen to him while he was speaking. Fortunately, I did hear when he asked me to marry him and I said yes! We called our favorite people, enjoyed the pretty lights, and indulged in soft pretzels to celebrate. Turns out the raffle and the light-up train were fake.